Transfigured
by Vixen Argentum
Summary: [OneShot with addendum] Sometimes walking the path of darkness is the only way to salvage the light. SessRin that becomes InuRin. Also hints of a former InuKag long, long ago. Warning: very angsty!
1. Transfigured

_Authors Notes- This piece is based very loosely off of the symphonic tone poem Transfigured Night by Arnold Shoenburg and the German poem that inspired that orchestral piece Two Mortals by Richard Dehmel. (Don't page back just because I mentioned this, lol! It just means the authoress is a geek, nothing more, nothing less.) I will put the full poem as the second chapter for those who are interested._

_This story begins as a Sess/Rin that moves into an Inu/Rin that is colored by the overtones of the past (Sess/Rin, Inu/Kag)._

_Warnings- Very very angsty. And two nonexplicit lemons. Have fun with that!_

_Beta- The unbelievable Demitria Miriam. I broke her brain with this one, I'm afraid. I didn't warn her at all, lol._

_Disclaimer- I do not own InuYasha or any of the other works that touched this story in the primordial ooze of my mind.

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Prologue

Exerpt from Two Mortals by Richard Dehmel

I am carrying a child, but not by you; I walk beside you in a state of sin.  
I have done myself the most grievous wrong. No longer did I believe in joy  
And yet had a great desire for a meaning to life, for a mother's joys  
And duties; and so, with a shudder, I allowed my sex to be held  
In a stranger's embrace and even thought myself blessed.  
Now life has had its revenge: now I have met you! Yes, you!

* * *

_Transfigured_

"Rin, you will take these every day."

"Why?"

"Because I cannot run _that_ risk."

The pale youkai placed a hand on the hollow between her hips, caressing the space that would always be empty. Rin understood. She knew any of their children would die of terminal illness, the disease called mortal life. For as long as she lived, he would never take another lover. However, if he had to watch her die twice; hidden in the silhouette of a half blood child, he knew he would go mad.

"Yes, Sesshomaru-sama."

He thrust the leaves into her hands. Rin selected the one with the shiniest green topside and began to chew. The tooth-milled leaf formed a bitter, sticky paste in her mouth. She had to find a better way to do this. Perhaps a tea.

Using stones as a mortar and pestle, she mashed her medicine until it was a green smear upon the rock. Luckily fruit was in season. If she mixed the two, the tang of citrus masked the acridity of compromise.

She didn't see him again until later that night, hours after the sun sank into the horizon. Sliding under the blanket that warded off the autumn chill, he tucked his arm around her waist, burying his face in to her long raven locks.

This was why she was born. This was why it was worth it.

Xxx

Inuyasha peered down the shaft of the well. Some days it belched forth the future, some days a bucket of water, and some days absolutely nothing at all. Now he wanted it to divulge the past.

Not too far back.

Just enough so that she would still be here. And he would fill in the well so that she could never return to her old life.

Alas, the jewel had been completed and destroyed. She had waved goodbye, and plunged into the darkness, forgetting the darkest truth of all in her excitement. It wasn't until she reached the other side that she realized she couldn't pass through without a jewel shard.

The days the well had water were the days he knew she cried.

Xxx

Inuyasha and his brother had never been the best of friends, or even friends at all. Now that the jewel was gone, Inuyasha knew that his brother would come to claim his life... but it never happened.

Truth was, he wouldn't really mind so much, now.

Sesshomaru wouldn't even deal with him directly. Anytime that he needed to send correspondence to his brother, he would send his human servant, or whatever that girl was to him.

Rin. That was her name.

It had been years since he had last seen her. Sesshomaru never asked him for anything, unless it dealt with a battle he was obligated to fight by way of his half-noble blood. Even that, however, was a scarce happening, for there had not been war throughout the lands for quite a while. Without the Shikon no Tama, it was as if there was nothing else in the world worth fighting about. It was either that, or even Evil needed time to sit back upon its haunches to lick its wounds.

Rin was different than he remembered. She was much, much older. But then again, humans did age so goddamned fast. Hell, Kagome was probably in her thirties by now. Inuyasha wondered if he would still recognize her.

What was he thinking? Of course he would.

Though he had not seen the bubbly little girl for years, he instantly recognized the beauty who approached him. Her hair was now long and sleek, breaking over the fragile bones of her shoulder blades. She still held that innocent quality to her, even if she no longer maintained any of it. No, he knew that her innocence was gone. He knew his brother better than the taiyoukai would ever like to admit.

She held out a letter to him, clasped between thin and graceful fingers. It truly was amazing how the feral child had blossomed into this masterpiece.

"Thank you," he said as he accepted it from her. Rin smiled. The tiny crinkles and sunshine in her eyes made him ache. Come to think of it, she did kind of look like somebody he had loved – no, still loves – from long ago.

The wind caught the paper, tearing it from his claws. It fluttered to the ground, at one with the fallen leaves.

"I got it!"

"No, I got it!"

Two heads clunked into one another as they bent to retrieve the scroll. Inuyasha rubbed the bump on his head and took her hands in his.

"Are you ok?"

She still smiled that same toothy smile, her eyes closed in absolute happiness.

"Yeah. I'm fine. Don't worry about Rin."

Inuyasha blushed when he realized he had not let go of her yet, but she didn't seem to notice.

Inuyasha invited her into the cave that had been serving as his house for the past year. Perhaps one day he would give up the nomadic lifestyle and build a real house, but he knew his brother would probably laugh at him. Then he could murder him as he slept unguarded within the walls of his own home.

Inuyasha handed her a skewered fish that he had cooked for dinner. One less portion for him was no big deal; seven more waited to quell the hanyou's hunger. It had been such a long time since he had engaged in small talk with another person; he could feel the rust on his vocal cords falling away. It amazed him that he could still fill up the empty air with more of nothing. If only empty words could fill his empty soul. She was polite with conversation and inquired as to what he had been doing. He told her about the agreement that he had made with a nearby village to protect them from lesser demons and bandits.

"I wish somebody like you was there to guard the village I came from. My family was killed by bandits when I was six."

That's right. She did have a history before she became the minion of the ice prince.

Before long, the sun had set, yet again. Inuyasha pulled out a guest futon and some fluffy fur blankets. It was not safe for a woman to travel alone, even if attacking her would bring down hellfire upon whoever dared to touch the ward of the Western Lord.

"I hope you don't mind. I don't get guests often anymore. I lost track of time," Inuyasha said.

This was true. Miroku and Sango had married and had two little ones of their own, which was hardly an easy life. The only person of the past he ever saw regularly was Kaede, but she wouldn't be around for much longer. The time was coming for her to rejoin her sister in the afterlife.

"That is sad. Would you like to see me more often? Sesshomaru-sama leaves Rin by herself still to keep her out of battle. We can wait for him together."

The offer made the hanyou jump in shock. Who was this woman that lived at the hands of his brother? "If you have nothing better to do, I would not be offended."

In the night, he rolled over a little too far, so that he woke up with his nose buried in her long curtain of hair. Inuyasha blushed.

"Sorry!" He could feel his heart pounding in his chest.

"That is fine. You were asleep. I could hear your snoring." Rin reached out and patted his shoulder.

It was hardly visible in the flickering firelight, but he could see that Rin was blushing, too.

Xxx

"Sesshomaru-sama! Oh! Sesshomaru-sama!"

The words were pulled from her mouth as he plunged further and further into her. He steadied himself upon her by grasping her right shoulder with his single hand.

The claws were beginning to dig into the meat of her muscle. It was fine though. It was this line of caring and not caring that she loved for him to cross. It was now when he forgot to treat her gently because he cared too much. He was lost inside of her.

With a final shudder, he collapsed upon her back, resting his head over her shoulder. He nuzzled her cheek to cheek, kissing her sweat damp skin.

"I love you, Rin."

"I love you, too."

He rolled off to the side, onto the carpet of moss that stretched between the trees. She loved the way he looked after he was spent. In another few minutes, he would go again. He wouldn't stop until Rin had tasted her own satisfaction at least once. His own voracious appetite had desensitized her, but he could always make her sing out his name every single time.

The second time, he succeeded. Then it was her turn to lie down, dazed on the grass. Sesshomaru pulled her close to his chest, kissing her forehead, then eyelids, then nose, then lips.

Despite the reactions of her body, Rin didn't really much care for sex. It was this afterglow that she craved. Deeper and deeper, she pushed into Sesshomaru, as if they might fuse forever.

One day she would get the courage to ask him again to take her lying on her back. She knew the Lord was a little shy about his feelings, but they had been intimate for years now. She knew that he didn't want to see the power she had over him; the complete submission in his face as he spilled his seed into her.

To her surprise, he flipped her over, one more time, rutting into her recklessly. Rin glanced over her shoulder, but her lover gently pushed her head back down, showering the nape of her neck with kisses and tracing it with his tongue. She wanted to see his face just once, but she knew she couldn't. Instead, she concentrated on their tangling strands of black and silver hair.

That was fine. He was only a youkai. She always forgave him for that.

Xxx

It was two weeks later that Inuyasha saw her again. Rin stumbled over the roots that crisscrossed over the ground, carrying a giant parcel over her shoulder. He guessed that she planned on staying a while.

"What's it like to live with him?"

Rin's eyes seemed to dance as she recalled life with her lord. "Oh, Sesshomaru-sama is so kind to Rin. He protects me, clothes me, cares for me when I'm sick, brings me back—"

"Yeah, I get it," he snapped. That smile, that affection, made his stomach turn.

Rin looked at him wide eyed. "Get what?"

"That twofaced bastard, you made him fall for you. No wonder he isn't trying to kill me anymore," Inuyasha laughed bitterly. "What excuse would he have if he had a hanyou child?"

"Inuyasha-sama, why would he do that? He gives Rin herbs. He says that mortality is the gravest illness of all," she questioned. The voice that flowed from her lips was cold as ice.

The hanyou searched her face for any remorse or regret but he found none. The girl seriously believed her own words. His brother must have brainwashed her, too.

"Do you really believe that, Rin?" Inuyasha cocked his head to the side, studying her.

Rin's face broke into that same soul-deep smile she always made. "I dunno. I just want to make him happy."

Inuyasha threw his hands in the air. "So you love him, too! Even though he leaves you behind and hints at his superiority. Keh! No matter how big of an asshole he becomes, he always has somebody who will take him back. Fucking bastard!" He vented before adding, "No offense, Rin."

"Of course. None taken." Rin winked at the hanyou. "You loved Kagome even though she beat you with the ground, disobeyed your orders, and flirted with that wolf."

Inuyasha groaned. Perhaps she was matched well with his brother. Sesshomaru had chosen a lover with a spine.

Xxx

Rin didn't leave for nearly three weeks.

"Sesshomaru-sama will come back for Rin at the winter solstice. He is very busy, you know. His empire just grows larger every day," Rin chattered.

Inuyasha took Rin into the village to see if there were any matters that needed tending to. He stepped into Kaede's hut, looking for the one-eyed miko. To his dismay, she wasn't there, and after waiting an hour for her to return, he left to find Rin. They could walk to Miroku and Sango's house and wait for Kaede there.

He found her among the children of the village. She dodged between them, playing some sort of sport with a ball. Her graceful movements looked as if she was dancing rather than competing. All the children were surprised that she had joined their game, usually adults stayed to their own devices and let the young play in the street. But then again, this woman was not exactly like most adults.

Inuyasha smiled and waved when she noticed him watching her. He doubted that with Sesshomaru she got the chance to see many other people, let alone have fun with them. Perhaps she acted so much like a child because she never grew up herself. How on earth did his brother end up with this creature?

At the arrival of the solstice, Inuyasha dreaded Rin's departure. He helped her repack and bade her a safe journey. When she reached the edge of the thick copse, she turned to face him, giving him an energetic wave that reminded him of a hyper puppy shaking its tail too fast.

The hanyou sighed. He looked at the disappearing figure of his brother's lover. The gentle swaying of her hips as she walked made him remember Kagome and the way her strange futuristic clothing flapped with every step she took.

Inuyasha stared down at Tetsuseiga, which hung down from his waist. It was ironic how things worked out sometimes. Sesshomaru had found his true love, while he had found nobody but his sword to keep him company. If only he could trade with his brother…

Xxx

"Sesshomaru-sama! Who's going to inherit your kingdom?"

Rin had always wondered about this. Surely not Jaken. He wouldn't have the power to maintain such a thing at all.

"My son," he replied, his demeanor as cold and impassive as ever.

"You have a son?" Rin asked flabbergasted. I mean, he was centuries older than she was, and he did seem to carry lots of secrets. To learn the secret paths of Sesshomaru's mind took years of patience and trust.

"No, Rin." She could hear a hint of amusement in his voice at the suggestion. "But I will. When I feel old, I will try and arrange a marriage to some noble demoness."

"Oh." Rin combed through her hair with her fingers thoughtfully. "Rin understands."

The dog demon nestled her tiny body in the space between his arm and torso, planting a light kiss on the top of her head. He bent down to whisper to her, his lips almost brushing the tips of her ears. "But believe me, I won't love her. My parents didn't love one another at all. We all have things to do that we don't want to do but must."

He didn't want to give her the wrong impression at all. She couldn't help it that she was human, and neither could he. He loved her just the same. The Inu no Taisho had not died in vain.

That night, when Sesshomaru handed the packet of leaves to Rin, she ground them up and made a tea. She sniffed the bitter aroma that wafted up from the cup, daring herself to drink the hellish mixture. Tipping the liquid to her lips, she was overwhelmed with the harsh flavor. It seemed as if it got even bitterer with every night she brewed it. Rin swore that all the sugar in Japan would not begin to take the edge off of the drink.

After years of drinking, she just couldn't do it tonight. Rin spit it out, the grass at her feet withering and dying where the poison touched the earth.

She emptied the rest of the cup on the forest floor, but something made her look into the empty mug. The leaves of the tea had plastered themselves to the sides of the wood. She spun the cup around gazing at the shape therein.

It was a curious blob of debris, almost reminding her of small child…with dog ears?

Tired, Rin crawled into bed with her Lord. He was so warm to the touch that when he wrapped his arm around her she needed no blanket. She rested her head upon his chest, counting his heartbeats until she fell fast asleep.

Xxx

It had been three months since she had stopped drinking the herbs. The first day that she felt the change within her, Sesshomaru kissed her passionately on the lips before leaving for the far fringes of his empire.

"I will be back by the end of next spring."

Sometimes he forgot how slowly time passed for her. She kissed the scarlet stripes that lined his cheekbones and the crescent on his forehead, savoring the presence that she missed so much.

"I promise, this is the last trip I shall take for a few years. Some people in my borderlands do not understand the power of the Lord of the West. Ignorant fools."

Rin smiled. They were ignorant indeed.

As she watched him walk into the distance, she rested a light hand beneath her navel, hunting for the swell that was not yet there. It would be soon, though. In the mean time, there were so many things to be done.

Oh how she would miss him when he was gone.

Rin sprinted to the demon as fast as she could, catching up with his regal march in no time at all. In a flash of blood, she took his long face in her hands and strained to her tiptoes, pressing her mouth upon his. He wrapped his hands about her waist, surprised at the surge of passion, as if this time would be their last, but not caring why it happened.

Rin drew back from him, shyly wiping his wetness from her lips. He was so beautiful, but then again…so was something else.

Xxx

"Back already?"

"Yes. Sesshomaru-sama has invading idiots in the far north."

"Really, now. I doubt that they're that dumb. He calls anybody that doesn't offer to wipe his ass for him an idiot. If sucking up is what he wants I'll be an idiot for the rest of my life."

Rin giggled. "I guess he does have a temper, or so I've heard."

Inuyasha rubbed his ears. "You've heard? You found yourself a right bastard, you know that?"

"He tries not to kill things around me, just when something attacks me, or him directly."

Inuyasha cocked an eyebrow. "I'm impressed. What did you do to him?"

She shrugged. "He has always been kind. He brought Rin back from the dead."

Water spewed from the hanyou's mouth. "When? Who killed you? Who would be stupid enough to attack the mate of the Western Lord?"

"The day after I met him. The last thing I saw was wolves, and I woke up in his arms. Dunno what else happened inbetween."

Inuyasha stared at the human female beside him. The way that the sun played with the hidden timbres in her hair and the wind gently combed through it was one of the most stunning sights he had ever seen. If she had looked like this fifteen years ago, he understood why his brother would have been mesmerized with her. But as a young child…

"When you were younger, did he ever force you to do anything you didn't want to do?"

Rin looked at him puzzled and then blushed as she realized what the hanyou was implying. "No! No! Not at all."

"Good. Otherwise that bastard would never know what was coming to him." Inuyasha crossed his arms over his chest. Thank God his brother wasn't that much of a monster, just a little bit of one.

"He never took me until I was ready. In fact, he was so gentle that he made _me_ take him. Sesshomaru-sama wanted no slander to his name."

Inuyasha nearly cracked a joke about how his brother wouldn't rape anyone in order to escape scandal, but the sad look in her eyes made him stop.

Xxx

Rin bent over to pick the flowers at her feet. The beautiful blue irises were her favorite; their scent could be smelled from around the cave. She folded the stems under her chin, holding them tight to her chest.

Inuyasha stood at the edge of the thicket, staring at the girl-woman-thing that was so perplexing to him. Her smile grew wider with every blossom she picked, the first time he had seen her do so since she arrived. She was so graceful when she was unaware of the people around her. Rin turned her back as she perused a new grove. She looked so peaceful in that moment.

Rin spoke. "I know I remind you of her."

Inuyasha jumped. How long had she known he was there? "No. You don't."

"You can admit it." Rin turned to face him. Come to think of it, the dry annoyance did kind of remind him of somebody else's condescending tone.

"Keh! You're both human and that's about it. Hell, if you reminded me of anyone, wouldn't it be my brother?" Inuyasha rolled his eyes.

"So you think he's got problems do you?" Rin joked.

Inuyasha laughed. "Now where would you get such an impression?"

Rin knew she had struck a nerve. Silence filled the space between them now. Not even the wind provided its own mumbling.

"I miss her."

Rin shook her head. "Inuyasha, you are the lucky one. At least you know she's gone for good. Clean cuts are easy to heal."

The hanyou didn't know why, but he found himself reaching out to her. Rin did not look surprised at all, just merely accepting of his contact. His heart sped as her flesh warmed to his touch, flushing with each kiss. Rin returned his affections play by play, matching each of his movements as if the exploration of their bodies was a tango.

Inuyasha gaped at the clarity of her pure white skin as he unwrapped the kimono from her body. The vibrant sprays of grass and flowers bent under the weight of her head when he laid her body gently on the ground. She gazed up at him demurely, pulling off his haori and kosode, and traced the lines of his exposed chest with a fingertip.

Inuyasha kissed her cheek. "Are you sure that this is what you want?"

Rin had been thinking about how she would create this moment for a few weeks now. Nothing could change her mind now.

"Yes."

He wasn't as smooth as her lord. She could feel the uncertainty in his muscles as he strained over her. He wasn't as heavy as her lord either, but she could still feel the same life force in the way his muscles tensed and flexed.

Ten years ago, she would rather have died than serve her master's brother. Now, as she sluiced her fingers through the familiar silver hair, she understood. Rin rested her hands in the dip of his arched back. His sweat made her fingers stick to his skin. Tentatively, she licked the dewy curve of his neck. The tang of salt warmed her senses just as it had every single other time she had made the same gesture. The same actions deserve the same taste.

She gazed up into his face, his eyes level with her own. They did not sport the same dark gold center that lightened out to the edge the way Sesshomaru's color was patterned. No, they held a light starburst of copper out from the center.

If only she had seen Sesshomaru's face this way, hovering only inches above her own, body sky clad and joined into her.

Rin had never lived her life for herself. Now is no different. For the third person passively waiting within her, Inuyasha was good enough.

Inuyasha saw that faraway look in her eyes again. _Poor Rin_, he thought. _She only has an absent icicle to keep her warm_.

Inuyasha released into her; his body freezing in the same spent motion, muscles tight and eyes blank. A man was a man, no matter who he was.

_Poor Inuyasha, _she thought_. Doesn't he know there's more to life than love? _

Xxx

Inuyasha sat outside of Kaede's hut, tracing lines in the dirt with a single claw. It had been the middle of the night when she had felt the pup try to fight its way out into the world. As fast as he could run, he carried Rin to the priestess's hut. If anybody would know what to do for the easy birth of a child, it would be Kaede. Now the sun was beginning to rise in the far eastern skies.

"Inuyasha!" The hanyou heard the miko shout his name. He turned around to face her, expectant for news.

"Well?" he asked.

"Congratulations. Ye have a baby boy!" the one eyed priestess remarked.

Inuyasha still sat there dumbfounded.

Kaede shook her head. "Ye could sit there all by thee lonesome, but ye would be a stupid dog. Come in and meet him."

Inuyasha scrambled into the hut and knelt at Rin's side. The boy child rested sweetly in her arms, nestled close to her chest. Rin bent down and kissed the child's two little furry white ears and brushed the halo fine silver baby hair away from his face.

The hanyou wrapped one strong arm about Rin's shoulders, and caressed the babe's head with the other. He examined the boy's tiny hands and marveled at the perfect little claws that grew from each little fingertip. The child looked so much like him, it was astonishing.

Rin transferred the infant into his arms, watching amazement at the newest member of their household play across his face.

"What will ye call him?" Kaede asked.

Oh kami! He had forgotten. Of course all children had names! Inuyasha looked at Rin, his panic a little more evident than he would have liked.

"We are going to call him Haruo. It is not my fault he decided to come a month too early. I love the springtime, and I like the name just the same."

The priestess stared at the couple a little dazedly, but she couldn't remember what was out of place. Kaede frowned as she looked from little Haruo to his parents. There was something about those ears…

Giving up, she shook her head. "Aye, it is a pretty name isn't it. He will be comely when he's grown."

Inuyasha nuzzled Haruo's head before kissing Rin on the forehead. Somehow, everything just felt right.

Xxx

The snows subsided, finally bringing new flowers from the ground. In the thick of the springtime, she took Haruo to the flowery meadows she loved so much. Rin held the child's back to her chest, craning over the flora. She nuzzled the child's snow white ears with her nose, making him giggle with delight.

"Look at all the pretty flowers. Soon the lord will return to us!" she cooed.

The pup looked confusedly at his mother, not really understanding her words at all. Deciding that her tone and expression was agreeable, he began to bounce against her arm, golden eyes dancing.

Rin sang to herself and danced innocently in a circle with the child in her arms. She had hope. When her lord and lover returned, she would be forced into one of two options. Both of them were favorable. He had given her a beautiful son.

Sesshomaru understood her at her basest level. Above all, Rin was a survivor.

Xxx

Inuyasha rose early. The scent of change in the air made him anxious. Taking care not to wake Rin, he slipped out of bed and stretched. Haruo began to stir in his crib, making soft singsong noises. Inuyasha held the child close to his chest, silencing him with his heart beat.

It was then he saw him, the cold, refined patience of a familiar silhouette, marching up between the trees. In fact it looked as if the background moved in retrograde to him. Mirrored eyes latched on to one another in a long forgotten challenge. There was no way to hide it now.

A pup.

"Stay away from my son," Inuyasha growled. Sesshomaru continued his aloof march forward.

Inuyasha pressed the little boy to his chest with one arm and raised his claws in challenge. Sesshomaru's eyes narrowed as he smiled. Haruo blinked amusedly at the taiyoukai and twitched his tiny ears.

"I wish to see Rin," Sesshomaru spoke. "I heard she would be here with you."

Inuyasha still held his defensive stance. "Well you'll just have to wait. You should have known better than to come around here so goddamn early. Honestly, who do you—"

"Sesshomaru-sama?" Inuyasha shuddered at the sound of Rin's voice when she added the honorific. How could she ever love someone that she didn't even address on informal terms?

Rin ran out of the cave, scooping up her child from Inuyasha's arms. She dandled the infant on a hip and stepped toward Sesshomaru. She had no fear of him.

Rin stopped. Her face hung two inches in front of the Western Lord, like the silence after a prayer. Sesshomaru closed his eyes, breathing in her warm, silky scent.

"Rin," he spoke.

"Yes?" The human and youkai stared one another down, two hearts hanging in the perilous balance.

Sesshomaru was the first to look away. "Do as you like."

Rin smiled sweetly, flowing up to her tiptoes and kissing the striped cheek with soft lips. He had taken the bait; she knew he could never kill her anyhow. Inuyasha gasped. The infant grabbed into the empty air at the warlord's back, which grabbed a handful of the inu youkai's fluffy sash.

The hanyou slunk back into his cave. Rin was in no danger. He understood her need to spend just a few last minutes with his brother, whom she had followed so faithfully. He knew that if Kagome suddenly sprang up from the well, that Rin would give him the same berth.

It wasn't until after Sesshomaru was long gone that Rin finally turned to rejoin Inuyasha.

Xxx

Sesshomaru sheathed his sword, which was now bloody from a long day's battle.

Sure, he had endured unspeakable pain in the wait, but in the end, he had walked away with the better deal. He now had a sword that sent its victim straight to the land of the dead. Inuyasha could keep Tetsuseiga.

Inuyasha. His mind dwelled on his younger brother for a moment, how he had looked so much like the little child he had held in his hands. Of course, any time that his thoughts wandered to his brother, they also settled upon Rin.

Rin was the most brilliant human he had ever known. Rin might have even been brighter than most of the demons he had known, but alas she was doomed to a short life. A short life with so little experience.

Just then the lord had the oddest thought. What if humans lived their lives more fully than demons because they were not hindered by centuries of experience? Humans always took risks, never knowing the extent of the bad or good a single action could cause.

Rin was nearly 20 years old, quite possibly a quarter of her life span had already passed. Inexperience had given her guts, but Sesshomaru would never underestimate her. She knew that he might have fought then and there.

Such odd characters, these humans were. Sesshomaru sighed contentedly. The Inu no Taisho would have been proud of his eldest son.

As a full youkai, his eternal life span had taught him something else. Something that most humans, or hanyous for that matter, never knew.

Quarter youkai pups had human ears, not dog ears.


	2. Two Mortals

I told you that I would put this here!

Enjoy!

Russanya

* * *

Transfigured Night (Two Mortals)  
by Richard Dehmel

Two people walk through a bare, cold grove;  
The moon keeps pace and draws their gaze.  
The moon passes over the tall oak trees,  
No wisp of a cloud to dim heaven's light  
Into which the black jagged tips reach up.  
A woman's voice speaks:

I am carrying a child, but not by you;  
I walk beside you in a state of sin.  
I have done myself the most grievous wrong.  
No longer did I believe in joy  
And yet had a great desire  
For a meaning to life, for a mother's joys  
And duties; and so, with a shudder,  
I allowed my sex to be held  
In a stranger's embrace  
And even thought myself blessed.  
Now life has had its revenge:  
Now I have met you! Yes, you!

She walks on, stumbling.  
She gazes aloft, the moons keeps pace.  
Her sombre gaze is drowned in the light.  
A man's voice speaks:

May the child you've conceived  
Not burden your soul.  
See how brightly the universe shines!  
Its radiance casts its halo around us!  
You're drifting beside me upon a cold sea,  
Yet there passes a glow of inmost warmth  
From you to me, and from me to you.  
That warmth will transfigure the stranger's child,  
And you'll bear me that child, begot by me;  
You've transfused me with radiance  
And made me a child myself.

He puts his arms around her strong hips,  
Their breath commingles in an airy kiss,  
Two people walk on through the high, bright night!

_Translation by Stewart Spencer_


End file.
